Letter: Things to fix

By R. Pakkala, Arapahoe

Published: Monday, May 6, 2013 at 11:39 AM.

I’m as concerned about what sequestration is doing to the younger work force as anyone is, but asking the retirees to take a cut makes me think someone spiked the morning coffee. We have spent our working life putting funds into Social Security and Medicare programs. There should have been enough funds there for everyone if the Democrats namely Lyndon Johnson had left it alone and not made it part of the General Fund so they could use it for their other programs. They were supposed to pay it back. Yeah, right.

The government bureaucracy can’t even or won’t follow its own rules or laws. An example is the
IRS
. For years, there has been a loophole in the number of dependents that illegals can claim on their tax forms. They have for years been claiming nieces and nephews who don’t even live in the
U.S.
and receiving huge refund checks. The
IRS
has known about this for a long time and has not corrected the situation.

The government has increased about 15 percent over the private sector in the last 10 years. The Department of Defense and Transportation (naming just two) have increased the number of employees and their pay plus benefits. We need some big cuts in government employment. Think about this: If there are 22 million government employees and half are married, that is 33 million votes for big government. We don’t have much of a chance to change anything.

Here’s another way to help cut the deficit. Everyone is cutting back, even the president. Has there been a cutback in the welfare benefits? I haven’t heard of any. Let’s say someone is receiving $2,000 a month, what if we cut 15 percent from that sum so they only get $1,700 a month. I think the only people that would be upset by that are the cigarette, alcohol manufacturers and the lottery people. They’ll just have to manage their money better.

Now that government gun control looks to be in trouble, why don’t we spend the money to correct the real problem. Almost all of the mass murderers had a mental health situation. In recent years, we’ve cut funding for mental health hospitals, clinics, and programs. Innocent men, women, and children have paid a big, big price for the lack of funding for those issues. Criminals don’t buy guns … they steal them. So why do we have our shorts in a knot over gun control. Why hasn’t our bigger government figured out where the real problem is? Let’s all get in touch with our Congressional people and ask our friends in other states to do the same.

Someone’s asking the retirees to cut back to help with the deficit. Let’s look for real ways to cut the deficit. Stop sending funds to countries that do not even like us. Find ways to curtail mass murders possibly through better mental health programs and find a new brand of coffee.

I’m as concerned about what sequestration is doing to the younger work force as anyone is, but asking the retirees to take a cut makes me think someone spiked the morning coffee. We have spent our working life putting funds into Social Security and Medicare programs. There should have been enough funds there for everyone if the Democrats namely Lyndon Johnson had left it alone and not made it part of the General Fund so they could use it for their other programs. They were supposed to pay it back. Yeah, right.

The government bureaucracy can’t even or won’t follow its own rules or laws. An example is the IRS. For years, there has been a loophole in the number of dependents that illegals can claim on their tax forms. They have for years been claiming nieces and nephews who don’t even live in the U.S. and receiving huge refund checks. The IRS has known about this for a long time and has not corrected the situation.

The government has increased about 15 percent over the private sector in the last 10 years. The Department of Defense and Transportation (naming just two) have increased the number of employees and their pay plus benefits. We need some big cuts in government employment. Think about this: If there are 22 million government employees and half are married, that is 33 million votes for big government. We don’t have much of a chance to change anything.

Here’s another way to help cut the deficit. Everyone is cutting back, even the president. Has there been a cutback in the welfare benefits? I haven’t heard of any. Let’s say someone is receiving $2,000 a month, what if we cut 15 percent from that sum so they only get $1,700 a month. I think the only people that would be upset by that are the cigarette, alcohol manufacturers and the lottery people. They’ll just have to manage their money better.

Now that government gun control looks to be in trouble, why don’t we spend the money to correct the real problem. Almost all of the mass murderers had a mental health situation. In recent years, we’ve cut funding for mental health hospitals, clinics, and programs. Innocent men, women, and children have paid a big, big price for the lack of funding for those issues. Criminals don’t buy guns … they steal them. So why do we have our shorts in a knot over gun control. Why hasn’t our bigger government figured out where the real problem is? Let’s all get in touch with our Congressional people and ask our friends in other states to do the same.

Someone’s asking the retirees to cut back to help with the deficit. Let’s look for real ways to cut the deficit. Stop sending funds to countries that do not even like us. Find ways to curtail mass murders possibly through better mental health programs and find a new brand of coffee.